§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will introduce a feed subsidy on Canadian hay imported into this country.
§ Mr. Roderickasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will subsidise the imports of hay and cereals;
(2) what action he proposes to take on the price of fodder;
(3) what examination he is conducting into the availability and distribution of fodder supplies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PeartThe Agricultural Development and Advisory Services of my Ministry have conducted a study of the regional fodder supply situation in England and Wales, with the following results.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has extended its normal end-of-October survey on the hay situation to include other winter feeds, in order to obtain a more detailed assessment of the fodder supply position in different regions, and the results are summarised below. The percentages given are broad orders of magnitude.
246Wfat clean cattle has dropped in each month; and by how much the value of a nine hundredweight beast sold at those average prices has dropped in each month.
§ Mr. BishopThe information requested is given below. I should point out that the low prices for fat cattle are the result of heavy marketings which are one-third higher than a year ago.
Hay. In England and Wales hay production is on average 14 per cent. down on last year. The biggest falls are in the normally exporting area—Eastern Region,-27 per cent., and South-Eastern Region, -30 per cent. Production in Wales and the South-West is 13 per cent. down on a year ago. Slightly better off are the Midlands, -11 per cent. and Yorkshire-Lancashire, -10 per cent. and the Northern Region —4 per cent. Quality is no better than average, and in some hill areas rather poor. Between June 1973 and June 1974 hay carry-over stocks were run down from 1,067,000 tons to 162,000 tons.
Silage. Silage production in England and Wales as a whole is 6 per cent. less than last year. In Wales production was maintained, but in England the decreases ranged from under 5 per cent. in the north of the country to 9 or 10 per cent. in the East, South-East and South-West. The quality of silage varies, early-cut samples, which represent the bulk of the crop, being generally very good, but later cuts of much lower feed value. Total stocks are reported as being slightly below average.
Straw. The total quantity of straw available is down by some 10 per cent. In the principal producing region, the 247W Eastern Region, there has been an estimated rise of 12 per cent. in production. But the other English regions showed a decrease. The greatest falls were in the South-West, -32 per cent., the South-East, -24 per cent., and Wales, -25 per cent. There is also likely to be a shortage of straw for bedding. There are, however, some stocks of straw available in East Anglia.
Fodder Crops. Yields of mangolds, turnips, swedes, fodder beet and kale were better than average, but below last year's levels. There has also been a stantial increase in the area sown to catch crops. Supplies of sugar beet pulp are expected to be down by nearly a third on last year. Potatoes could be in normal supply, provided the weather allows them to be lifted during the next few weeks.
Early Termination of Grazing. An additional difficulty this autumn is that the cold weather in recent weeks has checked the growth of grass and, on average, cattle are being brought in from pasture 10 days earlier than usual in England and 15 days earlier in Wales. The regions which have had to move the animals in earlier are those which are normally net importers of fodder and which are short of feed this year.
Note. The Eastern, East Midlands and South-Eastern Regions are normally more than self-sufficient in both hay and straw, while Wales and the South-Western Region are deficit areas for both. The Northern Region as a whole is generally in balance for both hay and straw with much local variation.
I am considering what action, if any, is appropriate.